Anti-apoptotic effects of milk-derived casein glycomacropeptide on mice with ulcerative colitis

This study investigates the anti-apoptotic function of casein glycomacropeptide (CGMP) against oxazolone-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in a mouse model. We tested the effect of CGMP on the morphological and histological damages of colon in UC mice and examined the mRNA levels of FasL, TNF-α, p53, p65 and TGF-β1 in colon tissues. Our results show that CGMP treatments alleviated oxazolone-induced body weight loss as well as morphological and histological damages. In addition, CGMP attenuated FasL and p65 mRNA level in colon tissue, while having no significant effect on the expression of TNF-α and p53. This suggests that therapeutically, the anti-apoptotic effect of CGMP is mediated through the FasR/FasL pathway and the anti-inflammation affects the NF-κB/p65 pathway. This study furthers our understanding of UC and provides sound support for the development of milk-derived therapeutics.